a match made in foodie heaven

Parmesan pasta with balsamic roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli

Oh, y'all.  There are things I dearly love: pasta with parmesan and butter, roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli and balsamic vinegar.  Put those together and you wind up with this glorious gastronomic goodness.  And it is so easy.  Have I told you how I discovered my love of roasted vegetables?  My "cooker" as they call them in Belfast was, er, antique and persnickety.  Basically the oven only heated from the top, so baking or cooking meat thoroughly was tricky.  But, heating from the top, that ol' cooker roasted beautifully.  And it turns out that roasted veggies is the nicest way to treat them: the flavors intensify and caramelize until they're divine.  Let's get started on this hearty supper (this makes enough for 2).

       

Peel one large sweet potato.  I find using a knife to be the easiest way to peel things.  Cut your tater in half, place flat side down and work a sharp knife along the curve of that spud.  Easy.  Cut the sweet potato into small cubes (about 1/2" size).  

Make a quick balsamic glaze: in a small saucepan simmer together 2 T of butter, 1 T of balsamic vinegar, 1 T of dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a fair amount of pepper.  Simmer for about 5 minutes on medium until it begins to thicken.

Cut or break half a head of broccoli into small florets.  Toss the sweet potato and broccoli in the balsamic glaze until well coated.  Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast (yipee) for about 20 minutes at 400ºF/204ºC, giving it a stir halfway through.  They're done when caramelized and the sweet potatoes are tender.

In the meantime, make your pasta.  I actually used the same saucepan I used for the glaze, just boiling water in it and keeping all that balsamic flavor there.  I realize Ina would tell me it is way to small a saucepan to be cooking pasta in.  Ina, dahhling, feel free to mail me a hand-crafted copper pasta pot hammered by French nuns!  It worked fine, and before I drained my al dente pasta, I saved 1/4 cup of the starchy pasta cooking water.  It's amazing what that cloudy water will do for a sauce!  Drain pasta, put empty saucepan back on the heat, add 1 T of butter (Julia would approve), that cooking water and simmer for a few minutes.  Add in the cooked pasta, season with a bit of salt and pepper and 1/3 cup (or as much as you please) of freshly-grated parmesan.  Toss together and there you have the easiest, most flavorful pasta to go with your roasted veggies.

Normally, when making pasta, I mix the pasta and veggies/sauce together and let them get to know each other for the last few minutes of cooking.  But, if you do that here, you wind up making those delightfully crunchy vegetables mushy.  So, don't mix 'em together, just let them hang out next to each other.  Top with a few shavings of parm and there you have it!  Tangy and sweet with the balsamic glaze, peppery from the pasta, creamy from the parmesan and butter and crunchy  with hearty vegetables, it's just so good.

Bon appetit!
Lilrevchef

rockstar pasta

Bacon and Mushroom Pasta with Rosemary Cream Sauce

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the happy marriage of mushrooms, bacon and pasta.  This ain't your normal spaghetti.  It's probably a bazillion Weight Watchers points, but is just delicious and fabulous.  Elegant, even.  And easy peasy, y'all.

Chop two slices of bacon into small pieces and saute until crisp.

Get rid of some of the extra bacon grease (leaving just a tiny bit in the pan) using the above pictured high-tech kitchen gadget.

 Thinly slice four or five mushrooms.

 You'll also need one sprig of earthy rosemary.

 Also chop 1/4 of a large onion (or half of a teeny one) and two cloves of garlic.

 You're also going to want a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper flake.  This stuff is gold in pasta: it adds a spicy kick and depth without adding strong flavor (like, say, a jalapeno would).

 Saute the onions with the bacon until tender, then add the mushrooms, garlic and rosemary and cook for about five minutes on medium heat.  This is a good time to cook your pasta (I just used spaghetti).  You want to cook it very al dente (because you're going to cook it a couple more minutes in the sauce at the end).

 Add about 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  I know, you're thinking that after all the sweets of Christmas, heavy cream is the enemy.  If you prefer using milk, go for it.  I'm just going to go for a little jog tomorrow night after work (and eat all of this creamy, fabulous pasta I want!).

Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the sauce and simmer a few minutes, until thickened.  Then add 1/3 cup of parmesan (yum yum yum).  Remove the rosemary sprig.  Drain the pasta and cook it a few minutes in that glorious sauce.  Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

 "Please, just a wee taste??"

This is one amazing pasta, y'all.  Creamy, with a kick from the crushed red pepper, a saltiness from the bacon and a deep rosemary undertone.  You'll love it.

Bon appetit,
lilrevchef

Home is...

your new neighbor (and member of your church) bringing you homemade sausage spinach soup.  It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks with Thanksgiving and then a move to Cameron, North Carolina, where I've accepted a call with a lovely church. In the middle of unpacking, trying to get all those necessary things for setting up house and getting ready for upcoming services, cooking has kind of (pardon the pun) been put on the back burner.  

I did manage a quick cauliflower parmesan pasta the other night, but this gift of soup in a large mason jar was just the height of hospitality.  And, y'all, that soup was good.  I found a little loaf of honey brown bread at my grocery store and together, they were comforting, filling, perfection.  I promise I'll put this adorable kitchen of mine to good use soon!  You really don't want to see the mushroom risotto I made last night: it tasted divine, but having used red wine in it, it turned out to be a mauve color.  And the words "mauve" and "food" just don't get along very well!  

Here's a sneak-peak tour of my kitchen.  I'm renting a house from a lovely couple in the church and I adore it.  It was built in the 50's and so still has some of those same appliances (which are really better made than ours are now!).

 I LOVE this range.  It has an oven on the bottom, and those cook panels on top can all be changed.  When I got here it had two coiled burners on the left, but Doris Jean (the darling lady who owns the house with her husband and raised her children here) came over last night and showed me all these amazing attachments for my cooktop.  I love the flat surface burners.  I'm not sure what it's made of, perhaps porcelain.  The grill on the right also has other attachments, too.  I've got to get some pancakes on that baby, quick!  When a man came to install my new(ish) fridge, he said how popular ranges like mine are.  Apparently they're hard to find and everyone wants one!  But my kitchen toys don't end there...

 a second oven!  In the brick of the fireplace.  So handy and it retains heat beautifully.  I love that it lights up on the top if you push a little button.  I suppose that could be called vanity lighting. :) 

 A man in my church sold appliances for 25 years and was able to track down this gently-used wonderful fridge for me.  I love it!  It has wooden paneling on the doors.  I'm resisting the urge to paint it some bright color...for now.

I've been wanting a large natural wood cutting board and found this beauty at the place where all the wonderful things live TJ Maxx.  

And, of course, we have the perfect percolator the 'rents gave me.  It brews coffee in about 3 minutes and makes strong (but not bitter), really hot coffee.  (Ignore the crazy lady in her bathrobe.)

I promise I'll get really cookin' soon, y'all.  I'm so delighted to be here: such generous, compassionate people, pine trees surrounding me, reclaimed barn pine wood floors...and TWO ovens!

What'cha cookin' these days to stay warm?  Do share!

Bon appetit,

lilrevchef

what's orange and bacon-y and delicious all over?

Pumpkin pasta with sage and bacon. 

Have you made those scrumptious pumpkin cupcakes yet?  Well, tonight I have another pumpkin treat for you (that, unlike those cupcakes, you can unashamedly eat lots of for dinner).  Pumpkin penne pasta with sage and bacon.  It's my first time to actually use pumpkin for a savory dish, and I loved it.  I found the recipe from Rachael Ray.  Rachael's recipes always seem to make way too much food, so I halved it and made enough for 3.  I read a few of the reviews of the recipe on her website (always a good idea to hear from real folks and not just test-kitchen robots!), and they said it was a bit bland.  We all know the answer to that: bacon.  Applewood smoked, to be exact.  If you're of the vegetarian persuasion, perhaps amp it up with some toasted pine nuts and tangy parmesan instead.  I frequent the Food Network more than any other channel (no surprise there) and notice that chefs always have interesting textures going on in their food, so that's another bonus from the crisped bacon (or pine nuts) in this creamy pasta. 

Chop three strips of bacon (streaky bacon for your Belfast folks), and saute in a bit of olive oil until crisp.  Remove and let drain on a paper towel.  Use another paper towel to sop up about half of the bacon drippings in the pan.

To the remaining bacon drippings (I know, I'm sounding lots like Paula Deen, y'all), add as much red pepper flake as you like.  I think I added about a teaspoon.  Has some kick!  I LOVE red pepper flake in pasta.  It adds heat without masking the flavor.

 Chop up half an onion and three cloves of garlic.

Saute the onions until soft, about 10 minutes.   Add the garlic and cook another 3 minutes or so.

Now it's sage time!  Sage is smoky and earthy and stands up well to strong flavors (like that rockstar applewood smoked bacon).  Thinly slice about 6 sage leaves.

Add to the onions and garlic, cooking for a few minutes so it gets a bit crispy.  Unlike its more delicate cousin basil that prefers to frolic in light salads, sage can stand up to some heat.

Now it gets interesting.  Add a dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.  But really, folks, just a wee dash: you don't want your pasta to taste like those wonderful cupcakes.  I heat the spices a bit in the pan, releasing their flavor.

Now add in about 3/4 cup of pumpkin, whatever was leftover from making those perfect pumpkin cupcakes.

Add in one cup of chicken stock, stir well and then add 1/4 cup heavy cream.  I suppose you could use half and half.  But seriously, we already have bacon going on.  Don't let a wee thing like 1/4 cup heavy cream get you stressed out.  (Or a bit of bacon, for that matter.)  The sauce has the most stunning color and silky texture.

For the pasta, I used whole wheat penne.  I love penne, and the whole wheat makes me feel better 'bout that bacon and cream. :)

 Cook until nearly al dente, about 7 minutes.  Keep simmering your yummy pumpkin sauce, adjusting salt and pepper as needed.  After draining pasta let it hang out in that fabulous sauce for a couple of minutes.

Top your fabulously fall-ish pasta with a sprinkling of the crisped bacon (mmm, bacon sprinkles...think of the possibilities!).

Enjoy, y'all.

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef

roasted red pepper pasta

Get ready for some roasted red pepper and pine nut pasta perfection, y'all!  That's some delicious alliteration.  I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe, which I really loved.  I've made roasted red pepper pasta sauce before with olive oil, but this sauce was much more flavorful and decadent with a bit of cream (yum), pine nuts, sauteed onions and garlic.  

Here's what you'll need:

3/4 lb penne pasta (I like penne best for this because the sauce really clings to it.)
2 red bell peppers (have to be red, folks)
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
extra virgin olive oil
3 T pine nuts
1/2 c heavy cream (decadent, I know!)
parmesan & basil (to garnish)

It makes about 4 servings.  If you're Texan, well, let's call it 3.

 Take a small onion...

 

...and peel and finely dice it.  You'll also want to finely mince 2 cloves of garlic.

Heat about 2T evoo in a deep pan on medium-low... 

Saute onion and garlic slowly with a little s&p for about 10 minutes, until soft.

Get your bell peppers rinsed and ready to be broiled in the oven.  You may want to give 'em a pep talk.  Broil (with - it may go without saying - your oven on "broil"), turning frequently, for about 10 minutes until charred on all sides.

They should look burned.  Burned = flavor (except later on in this recipe...you'll see.)  Let them cool for a few minutes.

Put the roasted peppers in a large ziplock bag and seal it.  You're essentially giving them their own little sauna so you can peel them easily later.  This is a good time to cook your pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente (about 8 minutes).

Then, toast your pine nuts in a dry skillet on medium heat.  I urge you not to change your Facebook status whilst doing this, otherwise they'll look like mine did. In this case, burnt does not translate to flavor.  Burnt = burnt.

Let's try that again...they'll only take a few minutes to toast, so turn them often and just get a light brown on them (like this picture).

Peel those gorgeous red peppers, deseed them and roughly chop.

Puree in a food processor or blender with 2T of the toasted pine nuts (you'll use the rest of the pine nuts as a garnish).

It will get velvety but still have some texture to it.  Such a gorgeous color!  Add this puree to the onions and garlic, season with s&p and cook together for a few minutes.

Then add 1/2 c heavy cream...

 ...and some chopped basil and cook together for a few minutes.  Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss together.  Adjust s&p as needed.  Top with more basil, whole pine nuts and parmesan shavings.

The result: creamy, hearty roasted red pepper pasta that will make you want to do a little happy dance.  It's possible I did one.  Okay, highly probable. :)

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef